Media & Entertainment boost IT business

NEW DELHI: IT spending by the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry expected to grow to $300 million by 2010, according to the report “India’s Booming Media and Entertainment Industry: IT Market Trends and Opportunities 2006-2010,” released by Springboard Research.

Majority of the M&E companies surveyed by Springboard said that they have either invested or plan to invest the largest portion of their IT budget on industry-specific solutions. A further 47 per cent said that their largest IT investment was for a technology solution tailored towards the Media & Entertainment industry.

“From our research, we are seeing that one of the key ways for IT Vendors to gain traction in this industry is to market the M&E industry-specific benefits that they can provide,” said Nilotpal Chakravrti, market analyst for Springboard Research.

“While many of the IT challenges Indian M&E companies are experiencing are similar to other industries, they are perceived as being specific to M&E and these companies are looking for industry-specific solutions to these challenges,” added Chakravarti.

Drivers for IT spending in the M&E industry include the urgency of Indian M&E firms to reach new markets (named by 27 per cent of M&E respondents) and the focus on solutions that better manage and deliver M&E content (according to 24 per cent of respondents). IT is viewed as an enabler to help M&E firms achieve these two business goals and deliver their content more efficiently within the Indian sub-continent.

“Many Indian M&E firms are looking at investments in technology as a way to more effectively deliver their content to new audiences, especially cities and towns outside of the major metropolitan areas,” Chakravarti explained.

Springboard Research’s report findings also show that software represents the largest spending component by Indian Media & Entertainment firms, followed by hardware and IT services. IT services is indicated as the fastest growth area of the market. Local IT vendors are still viewed as the primary external influencers in this industry, with IBM being the only multinational vendor of note to gain a significant number of mentions as a primary influencer.

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